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Moot Retires From 4chan

vivaoporto writes Moot bids his final farewell as the administrator of the (in)famous imageboard. The full resignation letter can be read on the site blog (it's cool, it's SFW) but for those who are not brave enough to dwell in the "underbelly of the internet" here are some excerpts: "I founded 4chan eleven and a half years ago at the age of 15, and after more than a decade of service, I've decided it's time for me to move on. 4chan has faced numerous challenges... [B]ut the biggest hurdle it's had to overcome is myself. As 4chan's sole administrator, decision maker, and keeper of most of its institutional knowledge, I've come to represent an uncomfortably large single point of failure. I've spent the past two years working behind the scenes to address these challenges,... [T]he site isn't in danger of going under financially any time soon,... and while I've still been calling the shots, I've delegated many of my responsibilities to a handful of trusted volunteers, most of whom have served the site for years. That foundation will now be put to the ultimate test, as today I'm retiring as 4chan's administrator.... I look forward to one day returning to 4chan as its Admin Emeritus or just another Anonymous,... I'm humbled to have had the privilege of both founding and presiding over what is easily one of the greatest communities to ever grace the Web."

29 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Fuck Moot and fuck 4chan. Yep. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess he's going back to reddit.

  2. Really? by Detonia · · Score: 2

    one of the greatest communities to ever grace the Web.

    lolwut

    --
    Comment received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
    1. Re:Really? by jeffmeden · · Score: 5, Funny

      one of the greatest communities to ever grace the Web.

      lolwut

      He's only 26-ish. He has no idea how elegant and wondrous the contributors of alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die were.

    2. Re:Really? by zlives · · Score: 2

      hahaha o wait did i just reveal my age

    3. Re:Really? by dpilot · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was rather amused by the titles of the Tanya Harding / Nancy Kerrigan newsgroups, though to be honest I don't remember the titles any more and never read them. I just remember ".whack.whack.whack" being the tail end of one.

      I actually did follow and post to technical newsgroups.

      --
      The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
    4. Re:Really? by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

      I've been to 4chan zero times. But you have to recognize that the site has made a huge impact on internet culture.

  3. What's really behind this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The presidential election is next year. He needs to get ready.

  4. 4Chan: Still better by gman003 · · Score: 4, Informative

    than /.Beta

    1. Re:4Chan: Still better by ShaunC · · Score: 2

      USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  5. Re:Ehhh by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

    To paraphrase Gene Spafford, "[4chan] is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it."

  6. Sad to hear this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know everyone loves to hate on 4chan but it is one site I enjoy visiting. Most sites are way too PC and monitored and I liked the anarchy and randomness of 4chan. I hope this doesn't bring about its demise.

  7. Re:The least welcome news by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    4chan is a cesspool of filth

    but much like charlie hebdo or hustler, i'm glad it exists

    it shows the society that tolerates it has moral superiority. i'm deadly serious

    the thoughts that go on in media like this exist everywhere in the world

    but by tolerating it, rather than repressing it, we show that we are confident, secure, and open minded

    elsewhere in the world, where people often talk a lot about their "morality" in comparison to the "decadent" west, they have no problem using violence to repress simple human nonsense that is without real consequence. violence? in response to stupid immature shit? that's not morality at all. that's insecurity, weakness, lack of faith

    4chan /b/ is a pile of useless crap. there is no reason to ever visit it unless you are an immature douchebag

    but if any of it actually makes you feel insecure, or makes you angry, you have a problem. you are the immoral weak person with immoral thoughts. if it drives you to violence, YOU are what is wrong with the world

    human nature has many good and bad aspects. the point is rise above your baser instincts. not go to war with them. like any troll, to fight filth simply feeds it, and announce to the world that it is your equal or it is your master

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  8. Re:Probably sold out to CIA a long ago by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You know, I wonder about that. I'm not sure the CIA has to infiltrate anywhere to monitor peoples' thoughts in an age when everyone has developed a compulsion to share each and every one of their thoughts with the world. I mean, ISIS has twitter accounts for chrissake. Even Adam Baldwin has a twitter account, so at this point, the bigger problem is not collecting those "thoughts" but turning them into information that can be acted upon and ignoring the trolls and shitposters.

    [true story: my favorite old keyboard died the other day. I didn't mention it to anyone, didn't tweet or email about it or put it on facebook. Not a word. Didn't search for new keyboards online or visit any stores that sell keyboards. Just plugged in an old cheapie I had laying about the house. It happened about 8:30am. By noon, I was getting targeted ads for these fancy new mechanical keyboards. Coincidence? Maybe. More likely, the NSA/Google industrial complex has set up mobile Stingray targets to monitor my thoughts. The bastards.]

    [here, watch this. Hey CIA, I'm thinking of a number between one and ten. What is it?]

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. Re:Probably sold out to CIA a long ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Three.

    - the CIA

    And by the way, your fly's open.

  10. Re:Probably sold out to CIA a long ago by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Three.

    - the CIA

    And by the way, your fly's open.

    God dammit.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  11. Re:The least welcome news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You are misinformed, sir. Mods and janitors jump on CP extremely quickly these days. Usually, the thread has already been deleted before I click on the report button.

    Well that's good news.

    God forbid anyone get the wrong idea about the moral compass of 4chan, since the rest of the site is nothing but good clean family fun.

  12. It is hard not to associate this with 8chan by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... I don't want to kick a man while he's down and it is nice that he's not taking any parting shots at anyone as he goes. But I think the stress of running the community was that at some point he forgot the point of 4chan.

    4chan was the place you could say ANYTHING. People would go on the most insane rants on that site. Say some positively evil things. And judge that as you will, there are very few places on the internet that are well known that you could get away with that sort of thing. And was sort of cathordic in its wild west post apocalypic simplicity.

    4chan was chaos and anarchy. It was full of people rhetorically stuffing kittens with explosives and then offering them to people with grin. The trolling was incredible.

    But there was also a savage beauty to the place.

    At some point, I think Moot tried to civilize it. And that was a huge mistake. These people... were already civilized. They spent every day being civilized and polite people going throughout their lives. And 4chan was a place people could go to be wild... people would spray paint their faces blue and randomly shiv someone because that was what they felt like doing. Wrong? that sort of thing is in us at some level. Might as well let it out on an internet forum rather then elsewhere.

    Anyway, lets hope either 4chan returns to what it was or 8chan picks up the slack.

    Those that say "8chan has something in it I don't like"... that's the point. Its there because it can't be anywhere else. Which is what 4chan used to be.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re:It is hard not to associate this with 8chan by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      4chan was the place you could say ANYTHING. People would go on the most insane rants on that site. Say some positively evil things. And judge that as you will, there are very few places on the internet that are well known that you could get away with that sort of thing.

      "Very few places" here being slashdot, youtube, reddit, twitter, and pretty much everywhere else on the internet...

    2. Re:It is hard not to associate this with 8chan by Yosho · · Score: 2

      "Very few places" here being slashdot, youtube, reddit, twitter, and pretty much everywhere else on the internet...

      You can say anything you want, but you'll probably get modded down and ignored quickly, if not banned.

      And even if you don't, you've still got a reputation. Your real identity may not be attached to your posts, but you've still got an identity, and people will at least remember what you say and possibly track down your uses of that identity on other web sites.

      Anonymity isn't just a feature on 4chan, it's part of the culture. Nobody can punish you for anything you say, nobody can speak louder than you, and nobody can embarass you because there is nothing linking your identity to your words.

      People make a lot of noise about "evil" things being said on 4chan, but that's not quite right. There's a lot of honesty on 4chan. Without any repurcussions, shame, or punishment, everybody can say exactly what they're thinking. They're still thinking it elsewhere -- but they feel like they can vocalize it on 4chan. And there's a lot of interesting, insightful discussion that goes on there, too, especially with regards to subjects that are too taboo or embarassing to discuss in places where you have an identity.

      --
      Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
  13. Re:The least welcome news by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2

    Doesn't matter NSA still has your IP logged to a page that contained images of child nudity.

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  14. Re:The least welcome news by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

    Like the old biddy who reported her shrink for showing her porn. Rorschach test porn.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  15. Re:The least welcome news by geekmux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All the pedos and two other toxic groups (mostly all the same people) moved over to 8chan when 4chan was no longer willing to tolerate them.

    Can you imagine being too despicable for 4chan? And yet, it happened.

    ISIS actions and policy aren't exactly welcome with open arms in the Al-Qaeda manifesto either.

    Seems the lofty goal of being the worst asshole on the planet is a popular one.

  16. Re:The least welcome news by rot26 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    These days, yes. I suspect that there was a point about 3 years ago when moot got a visit from some TLA agency, and has been on a short leash since. I'm guessing they have finally taken him off of the dog collar he's been on since (redacted) and he is getting the hell out of dodge.

    --



    To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
  17. Re:The least welcome news by rot26 · · Score: 2

    Come for the filth, stay for the hivemind. An amazing amazing thing.

    --



    To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
  18. Re:The least welcome news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but by tolerating it, rather than repressing it, we show that we are confident, secure, and open minded

    So, what does it say when sites across the internet crack down on Gamergate discussion more than they crack down on gore, piracy, and neo-nazis?

    Sorry but if you're coming from the position that 4chan is some haven of free speech, you're wrong. If you think the internet as a whole has fulfilled the promise of being a forum for free assembly and open discussion, you re doubly wrong. The internet has become an intertwined collection of hugboxes, propaganda outlets, and viral marketing solutions, all held together by increasingly valueless data mining operations.

    The future of the internet was decided in 2014 and it is to be a 1-way medium, Cable 2.0, with the ability to post (moderated) content. The moment you post anything actually uncomfortable to anyone who even half matters, and especially the moment you believe the internet is a force for empowering the masses, is the moment you will discover that websites remain the private property of a privileged few.

    The revolution will not be online.

  19. What about his interview? by flogger · · Score: 2

    Wasn't he going to answer some questions from back in September?

    I guess those questions won;t get answered now.

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    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    "First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
    -- The Doctor, "Doctor
  20. Tick-tock by Wuhao · · Score: 2

    Now even moot is too old for 4chan. Fuck me, how time flies.

  21. Re:The least welcome news by poity · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, 4chan, to this day is still dealing with a pedo problem on its /sp/ Sports board. It's the reason why none of the *chan archival sites out there are willing to archive /sp/. The vast majority of those now on 8chan first went there when Gamergate became banned on the whole of 4chan -- even just posting the word got you banned. A few months after that, word filters were implemented on /pol/ Politically Incorrect, turning it into a playground for /b/, resulting in a second wave of migration.

    4chan's "intolerance" of certain subjects/people remains selective and capricious, and in no way accurately portrayed in your post.

    --
    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  22. Moot / Boxxy, 2016!!! by Narcocide · · Score: 2

    Oh wait, he still won't be old enough. Nevermind. I should have done something cool with my childhood... sigh.